


Naming Rights

by aameyalli



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Drabble, M/M, because it's handers, soft with a hint of angst in the future, you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-13 23:22:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21005858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aameyalli/pseuds/aameyalli
Summary: “I cannot believe you named the mabari Dog.”"And why not?"





	Naming Rights

“I cannot believe you named the mabari Dog.”

“And why not? It’s a title. It’s a good title.”

_ “Good?” _

“What’s better than being a dog?”

“Being a cat, for one thing. Being a dog with a proper name, for another.”

“Fine,” said Hawke. “I’ll bite. What, my rebel poet, would be a proper name for Dog?”

Anders thought.

It was hard to focus with Hawke so close, his breath in Anders’s ear, one big hand tangled gently in his hair, the other on his neck, rubbing out knots of tension with slow, firm swirls of his thumb. After the morning he’d had at the clinic, it was all he could do not to arch against him and hum like a cat.

“Threnodies,” he said. “It’s distinguished, ironic—”

“It’s _ musty _is what it is,” said Hawke primly. “And Dog’s a girl.”

“Waffles.”

“I’m Waffles.”

“Ser Barks-a-Lot.”

“Old hat.”

“Dane.”

_ “Older _hat.”

“Stinky Girl.”

“No.”

“Elfroot. Pumpkin. Butterball. Fluffernut.”

“No.”

“Aveline.”

“No--ew, Anders!”

“Divine Justinia. Mutt-ilda Amell.”

“I think I have an aunt called that.”

“Doodle.”

_ “Doodle?” _ Hawke repeated, incredulous. “She’s a mabari! You’re bad at this.”

“I can only be wonderful at so many things.” Anders tipped his head back and grinned up at Hawke. Light from the Amell House fireplace played over his scruffy black beard, his messy hair, smoothed away the shadows of pain from under his eyes and cheekbones, and made him look very young.

Anders kissed him. It was warm and bright and simple.

“Marry me,” said Hawke, almost against Anders’s lips, “and you can name my Dog whatever you want.”

“Yes,” said Anders, shrugging off Hawke’s hands and starting for the cellar door. “Come along, Lady Wigglebottom. I’m going back to work.”

Lady Wigglebottom barked happily, and followed at his heel.

* * *

Anders had made a few miscalculations here.

The first was expecting Hawke _ not _ to come crashing down the stairs behind him and scoop him off his feet, holding him as if he weighed nothing. Demanding to know _ what _ he meant by saying “yes” in that tone and inflicting such a name on his Dog. Paralyzing him with kisses when he tried to escape. Until he said “yes” in a different tone, breathy and _ rushing, _and Hawke said it too, rumbling low. (Anders did not return to the clinic that day, and when he went in the morning his hair was tied with blood red cloth.)

The second was thinking that this would be allowed—that Justice, the Templars, the rebellion, the Taint, the _ world, _ that Anders himself would let him keep anything _ warm and bright and simple. _He would give the red cloth back, he would shout and lie and shove at Hawke, he would— 

He would.

But for a held breath, for a stutter in time, Hawke and Anders walked through Kirkwall hand in hand, followed by a Dog whose name changed every minute.

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on my new da tumblr, @hawkepockets! https://hawkepockets.tumblr.com/


End file.
